Every now and again, I get asked by the fine folks over at The Daily Dot to talk about two of my favorite things: tattoos and technology. While my previous piece focused on tattooists who are utilizing the social-media power of Instagram, my current piece "Tattoos to Go" steps it up a notch to discuss my top five favorite apps for your smartphone/tablet.

I've wished for a long time that Tattoo Artist Magazine, the tattooer's trade publication, which is limited to artists, would become available to collectors because of its focus on the art and serious discourse on how to make the craft better. Well, my wish has been granted.

Today is the official launch of Tattoo Culture Magazine, a digital publication that isn't created by outsiders seeking to profit from the community, but by those within who are building it into something better. TCM bills itself as "the
authentic voice of the tattoo industry, developed from the inside out by
the true experts of the tattoo world, the tattooers!" And I agree.

A couple of weeks ago, I was given a digital preview link, and no other click has made me that happy recently (except for GeorgeTakei's Facebook page). Right from the cover, you know it's different. There's artwork by the stellar Jeff Gogue instead of a young girl sucking on her finger. I was confused. This is a tattoo magazine? I scoured the pages for boobs but there were none to be found. The women in the magazine were artists like tattooist Valerie Vargas, tattoo historian Dr. Anna Felicity Friedman and yoga instructor Alicia Bernant (offering examples of yoga poses for beginners). Crazy, I know!

The pages are filled with art. Tattoo art, painting, photography sketches. They are by veterans of the craft, like Freddy Negrete, and successive generations of inspiring tattooers like Gogue and Vargas, as well as Mike Rubendall, Nick Baxter, Robert Ryan, Dave Waugh, and Gunnar.

Of course, there's pop culture, but with more smarts. For example, there's a feature on the tattoo competition show Ink Master but editor Crash sits down with the judges Oliver Peck, Chris Nunez and Dave Navarro to talk seriously about the show and how reality programming impacts the tattoo community.

All in all, it's a very exciting project. Congrats Crash and the TCM crew!